Every once in a while, an unlikely director comes out of nowhere and blows you away with the sheer brilliance of their debut work; in the case of Moon, the first feature film from British filmmaker Duncan Jones (who is, rather aptly, David Bowie's son), this smart, relevant, sad and funny sci-fi flick marked him out as a wonderful new talent, whose impressive knowledge of sci-fi cinema is made apparent in every frame (he would go on to make Source Code, a sort of sci-fi Groundhog Day). Starring Sam Rockwell in what is undoubtably his best performance (or best two performances, perhaps?), this little gem proves that budget isn't always everything. Which is to say, Moon features Rockwell's charismatic engineer, Sam Bell, who works alone on a small base located on - you guessed it - the moon. He communicates with Earth using just a satellite phone, and is counting down the days until he can return home to his wife and daughter. But all is not as it seems: an accident suddenly finds Sam having to face off against not aliens or evil robots, but... himself. Literally. Rockwell plays dual roles in the movie as different Sam Bells, and indeed, the movie largely works because he is so convincing in both parts. Coupled with Duncan Jones' clean, crisp direction, this is low-budget sci-fi at its very, very best.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
